Saturday, March 22, 2008

So, I just posted about not giving my children candy at Easter and now I'm going to post the recipes for the cakes I made for our big Easter celebration--go figure! I love cake! I think in heaven I'll get to try a different kind of cake everyday! Cake is pretty. Cake tastes wonderful. Cake goes well with coffee. Cake makes people happy. Cake is easy to make...usually.
I've found this wonderful blog called Meemo's Kitchen. I have no idea who this person is--they write under the name Pattie Kayke. (Mmmm...cake. No wonder I like them!) Anyway, I found the recipe for Oprah's Favorite Things Key Lime Bundt Cake on this blog. It sells for $40 a cake, but now I have the recipe! It was a little labor intensive, but the whole house smelled wonderful of fresh lime! The next recipe was for Olive Garden's Lemon Cream Cake. If you have lime, you must have lemon. Right? Also, I know my mother-in-law loves lemon things, and I'm a bit of a kiss-up! So, around 1:30 I set off on my cake baking extravaganza! There was zesting and sifting; whipping and creaming; scraping and blending... At 6:30, I put the finishing touches on the last cake. Phew! These cakes better be the best things we've ever enjoyed for dessert! I'm going to post the pictures from the other blog--but I'll post some of my own soon! I also now know why people pay the $5.95 for a stinkin' piece of cake from a restaurant! It's all about the added love from my kitchen, though...right???

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Spray 12-cup Bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray.
Mix together sugar and zest for 2 minute to help release the oils. Add butter to sugar/zest and cream. Blend in eggs, yolks, and extracts on low to blends, scraping bowl. Add in remaining ingredients and blend into a smooth batter.
Pour batter into cake pan and bake for 1 hour or until cake tests done.
Cake will be lightly golden brown and firm to the touch when you press your fingers on it.
While cake is baking make Key Lime Syrup: In a small sauce pan bring all syrup ingredients to a boil and simmer 5 minutes.
When cake is done remove from oven and pour all but approximately 2/3 cup of the syrup over cake while still in pan. Pour so syrup goes down sides and around the center tube. Set reserved 2/3 cup syrup aside. Let cake cool for 15 minutes and invert onto serving dish. With pastry brush, coat the top of the cake where glaze didn't reach with syrup.

Olive Garden's Lemon Cream Cake
Menu Description: "Delicate white cake and lemon cream filling with a vanilla crumb
topping."
This "Super Secret" version uses a cake mix. Use your favorite brand, just remember that each brand of cake mix may requires slightly different measurements of additional ingredients (oil, eggs). Follow the directions on the box of your favorite brand. Mix the batter and then pour it into a greased 10-inch springform pan and bake until done.

INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Prepare cake following the directions on the box. Pour the batter into a greased 10-inch cake pan or springform pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes. Allow cake to cool completely.
2. Make lemon cream filling by mixing cream cheese and powdered sugar in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. Mix in lemon juice.
3. Whip cream in a large bowl with an electric mixer on high speed until stiff peaks form. Fold whipped cream into cream cheese mixture.
4. Make crumb topping by combining flour and powdered sugar in a medium bowl. Add butter and vanilla extract. Use pastry cutter or your hands to mix cold butter into the flour and sugar. Cut in butter until mixture is crumbly - a not so even mixture of little and larger lumps of
flour and sugar covered butter. You want a very crumbly consistency with pieces no bigger than a pea. Keep topping refrigerated until you are ready to use it.
5. After cake has cooled, slice it in half through the middle and remove the top. Spread all but 1/2 cup of the lemon cream mixture onto the bottom half of the cake, then carefully replace the top half of the cake.
6. Spread the remaining 1/2 cup of cream filling over the top and sides of the cake. Sprinkle the crumb topping on top of the cake and press it onto the sides of the cake.
7. Chill the cake for at least 3 hours before serving.

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comments:

I have to tell you that I have made this cake for my husband's birthday for the last 5 years using the recipe on meemo's kitchen. now that blog is gone and i was panicked. then i found the recipe on your blog, thank you for saving the day!!! and now i have the recipe saved, not as a link to a blog :)

Our little princess, Cloe, is our firstborn and our only girl. She's as sweet and helpful as they come! Her brothers adore her and don't usually mind her mothering. She's also an aspiring artist, excelling student, and growing pianist!

McClain is our tenderhearted, cuddly boy. He loves to watch Daddy and Grandpa work and will probably one day be the best engineer, mechanic, carpenter around! He's always got a sweet, sticky kiss and a hug ready to give away!

Carson adds boundless amounts of energy and excitement to our family! Playing Superheros, sword-fighting, and saving the world are his favorite activities. He loves school and wants to be a police officer someday!

Maddox is our tag-along baby who officially pushed us into the "Big Family" club. He has a contagious smile and a very easy go-with-the-flow personality. He is never lacking for attention or kisses at our house!

Cody and I have been married for almost fourteen years!We're humbled at all the blessings God has given us along the way. We love to be together and think having four kids is pretty swell...as long as there's enough coffee!